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OECD Framework for Statistics on the Distribution of Household Income, Consumption and Wealth

This publication presents an internationally agreed framework to support the joint analysis of micro-level statistics on household income, consumption and wealth. Its aim is to extend the existing international frameworks for measuring household income and consumption at the micro level to include wealth, and describes income, consumption and wealth as three separate but interrelated dimensions of people’s economic well-being. The framework, prepared by an international expert group working under the auspices of the OECD, is intended to assist national statistical offices and other data producers to develop data sets at the household level that are suitable for integrated analysis, and for facilitating comparisons between countries. The Framework is widely applicable, with relevance to countries that are at different stages of statistical development, that have different statistical infrastructures, and that operate in different economic and social environments.

Household income

In the context of the ICW Framework, household income is a flow that enables consumption and contributes to changes in household wealth or net worth. As an important element in the measurement of economic well-being, standards and guidelines have been provided to assist countries in the collection, compilation and dissemination of household income statistics. The most recent of these, the 2011 Canberra Group Handbook, Second Edition, has been incorporated into the ICW Framework, and forms the basis for this chapter.